Dance Moms

Dance Moms: The Lowdown on the Newcomers

New season; new beginnings; newcomers. Three of them, to be precise, as the BDP and ALDC refreshed their ranks, introducing some carefully chosen competition talent to their teams. Although really, what did you expect with Maddie out of the picture in New York? Kendall to take over? Dream on, Jill.

Still, it was nothing if not an unsettling start to the new season. After all, who are these newcomers? What do we really know about them? And which team is going to come out on top now?

AKA 'the new Maddie', although Maddie herself looked less than thrilled with her coach's decision to replace her the second she left the studio.

You may remember Brynn from when she was first introduced to the ALDC in season five. She and Maddie have history, Brynn being possibly the only dancer so far to make Maddie sweat, when the two went head to head. Brynn lost. But in better news, she's already won her first competition, so perhaps there's hope for this ultra flexible newcomer after all!

Chances of her becoming the new Maddie? 2/5 (depending on Maddie's schedule). Sorry, Brynn, but we've been burned before.

We have history with this one too and it's not good, Gavin being a former Candy Apple who appeared in both season four and five. For shame, Gavin, for shame.

Gavin is the proud holder of national and regional dance titles and moves on stage like he hasn't got solid bones in his body, which means that he's probably going to give the ALDC some cause for concern going forward. Plus, we've seen how the judges respond when there are male dancers involved, which is probably at least part of the reason Jeanette picked him in the first place. On the bright side, he was beaten by the ALDC in this week's episode, which tarnished the BDP's one episode run as champions.

Gavin's also made appearances on Nickelodeon and it's not uncommon for the word 'prodigy' to be bandied about in the same breath.

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Level of threat to the ALDC? A solid 3.5/5. Yes he's a brilliant dancer, but he's lost to the ALDC before.

McKenzie Morales

AKA Gavin's sister, but as so far, she's been largely ignored in favour of her apparently superior brother, you can be forgiven for not remembering her name.

McKenzie is described by Jeanette as "a beautiful dancer too," setting the stage for some probably decent moves. Although let's be real: it's hardly a winning commendation. On the other hand, McKenzie was also brought into the Candy Apples by Cathy in one of her many bids to best Abby, so we know the girl is not without skill. Alas, we'll have to wait to see her take the stage.

No word on whether she too is a dance prodigy, but she can get her leg up behind her head, which is good enough for us.